The long road home

Fearing poor weather, my Thanksgiving jaunt home began earlier than expected. I set out for Central Minn. Tuesday shortly after lunch. After finding clear roads for the entirety of my journey, I felt relieved to pull into the driveway of my folks place.

I got to spend some major quality time with my Godson, which was awesome. I also was able to see several long-lost relatives, some I haven't seen for years and others that it was good to see again.

I went 11-5 this week in my NFL picks making me 97-75 for the year, not too shabby.

Didn't cover much at all this week, but I do have a few pictures from up at the ski area north of Bottineau.

A snowboarder gets some air last Sunday at Bottineau Winter Park, 10 miles north of Bottineau.

A boarder rounds the curve at the bottom of one of the runs last Sunday.

A younger snowboarder turns to get in line for the ski lift last Sunday.

To girls finish up a run and prepare to go back up for more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all, as this is the beginning of the holiday season, Christmas is soon approaching. Has everyone got their shopping started?

It wasn't a horribly busy week, as has been the custom so far in November, but looking ahead, it won't be the case in December.

This week due to a scheduling mix-up I missed the Ladyjacks home basketball game, but did cover an oil meeting in Mohall on Wednesday afternoon. It was good to get out of the realm of sports, but not for long.

Friday and Saturday I watched one of the finest prep hockey teams in the country--Shattuck-St. Mary's, from Faribault, Minn., come in and easily dispatch the Lumberjacks.

I also hit up a BHS  hockey practice to get the information on their upcoming season.

I am leaving to go home for Thanksgiving today to beat the winter storm that is heading into this area tonight. I will be staying home then, until Saturday afternoon.

I went 10-6 on my NFL picks this week. Have been doing pretty well, but my playoff predictions don't look too great right now. Bye, bye Chilly! I am 86-60 overall this season.

I do have quite a number of hockey pics to share this week. Here you go.

BHS players await the whistle to begin a drill last Wednesday.

A BHS player takes a shot at the goalie during a drill at last Wednesday's practice.

Lumberjack sophomore Seth Cory clears the puck out of the DCB zone in the first period Friday night.

Lumberjacks center Will Kinsman battles with a Shattuck-St. Mary's Sabre first period face-off on Friday.

DCB goalie Troy Chandler saves a shot, as Ben Hilson fights off a Sabres player.

DCB forward Alec Burks fights for the puck against the boards in the second period last Friday.

Lumberjacks sophomore Jordan Kippen skates the puck toward the Sarbre's net in the second period Friday.

Lumberjacks captain Drew Haight attempts to control a puck in front of the Sabres net in the first period last Saturday.

Lumberjacks goalie Wylie Riendieu uses his chest to make a save in the second period on Saturday.

Official end of fall sports

After the Bottineau Stars fell in the Region 6 Championship Thursday and the DCB football team won in Grand Forks on the same night, the fall sports season officially came to a close for the Bottineau area.

So, for the next couple weeks there will not be any prep sports to cover, fortunately there will be some college sports, though.

Upcoming, I will be covering DCB women's basketball on Thursday and DCB Men's Hockey on Friday and Saturday.

I also think I am going to get a head start on previewing the prep hockey teams.

I went 8-6 on my NFL picks this past week, I am 76-54 overall this season, which isn't half bad, considering I picked all the games before the season started.

Not too many pics this week (I may have screwed up and missed the hockey games):

Stars senior Alyssa Fugere tips one over last Thursday in Minot.

Stars middle hitter Whitney Page slams home one of seven kills last Thursday in the Region 6 championship game against Kenmare.

Page blocks Kenmare's Cortni Miller's shot last Thursday.

Page digs out a serve in the second game last Thursday.

Page and fellow junior libero Heidi Artz were both named to the All-Region team.

Artz gets one of 10 digs; she led the Stars in the category.

Junior Trista Bjerk (left) and Page (right) block a Kenmare shot in game three. The stars would fall 3-0 to the Honkers and finish runner-up in Region 6.

Feeling like a daily

With last night's last minute deadline story writing, it felt almost like I was writing for a daily. However, I was just making sure to get the Bottineau Stars volleyball team's Region 6 first round win into our weekly paper.

Also on the week I covered DCB winter sports--all of them, men's basketball, women's basketball and hockey.

I went 10-3 with my NFL picks this week, actually doing pretty well so far.

Here are the pictures from this week. (Just a reminder, these pictures belong to the Courant, not me, and can't be used, unless you have permission.)

Jacks freshman guard Jeremy Chambers shoots last Friday in a 109-85 win over Winnipeg Jr.

Jacks sophomore Adam Hunt attempts a layup last Friday in Bottineau during the Kevin Thom Classic.

Chambers hits a three last Friday.

Jacks sophomore Tyler Fischer poised to shoot a free throw last Friday.

Chambers steady's himself before attempting a free throw.

Jacks sophomore Tyson Harding attempts a jumper in the first quarter in last Friday's win.

Ladyjack's freshman Jordan Allard attempts a free throw last Saturday during the Kevin Thom Classic.

Ladyjacks sophomore Haley Mindt drives to the hoop last Saturday in Bottineau.

Mindt fights through a screen in the second half last Saturday.

Mindt scores two of her eight points last Saturday.

Ladyjacks sophomore Allison Scherr hits a jumper in the first half in last Saturdays 87-33 win.

Lumberjacks sophomore goalie Troy Chandler bats away a Beavers shot in the first period last Saturday.

Chandler and Sam Jelleberg try and keep the puck away from a Beavers forward Garrett Ferguson.

DCB's Jake Plutowski skates the puck into the Beavers zone last Saturday.

DCB's Kirby Braybrook tries to win a face-off in the first period in last Saturday's 7-1 loss in Bottineau.

Jelleberg tries to clear the puck out of the Lumberjacks zone in the third period last Saturday.

Lumberjacks center Alec Burks skates the puck across the blue line last Saturday in the second period.

Braybrook tries to control a loose puck in the third period last Saturday.

Lumberjacks defenseman Chris Martin tries to skate a breakaway past the Beavers bench in the Lumberdome.

Snow, hockey and the end of football

As one sport ended another began this past week in Bottineau.

I started out tuesday enjoying the glorious snowfall and coaching the white team in the annual Green/White, Media Cup game. We lost 5-4 in overtime, but I had a good time.

Wednesday I went on the radio to talk about the game for a couple minutes. I had a pretty tough time getting there due to the approx. six inches of snow on the ground. In all we ended up getting about eight inches.

Thursday I travelled to Rugby to take pictures of the opening round of the District 11 volleyball tournament. It wrapped up Monday as the Bottineau Stars took home the title and the Newburg-Westhope Eagles failed to advance to regions.

Friday was the DCB hockey opener against the NDSU Bison at the Lumberdome, so I photographed that. They won 8-5.

Saturday was what turned out to be the Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn Sioux's final game, as they fell to Mott-Regent 20-8 to end their season in the quarterfinals.

Saturday night I went out for Halloween, dressed as a modern vampire. I had a lot of fun (maybe a little too much?).

Monday was a really long day, with all the hullabaloo that went down with the city council meeting. Didn't get out of the office until after 11:30 p.m.

I suprisingly went 10-3 on my NFL picks this week, maybe things are turning around?

Anyways I have a drastically large amount of pictures to share. Hope you Enjoy.

BHS junior Whitney Page goes up for the kill in the first round of the District 11 tournament against Dunseith in Rugby.

Stars sophomore middle hitter Katryna Hahn prepares to kill it to the Dunseith side last Thursday in Rugby.

Page and fellow junior Ashleigh Aufforth celebrate after Page got an ace last Thursday at districts.

Stars junior libero Heidi Artz serves against Dunseith last Thursday.

Stars junior Nora Ulrich receives a Lady Dragons shot last Thursday in Rugby.

Eagles senior Kendra Thom digs out a Drake-Anamoose shot last Thursday in the opening round of the District 11 tournament.

Eagles sophomore Bailey Tofteland hammers a shot to the Lady Raiders side last Thursday in Rugby.

Eagles senior Alisha Braaten digs out a Raiders serve last Thursday in Rugby.

Braaten menacingly sends a shot to the Raiders side last Thursday.

Sioux senior Brandon Brodehl carries the ball early in the third quarter last Saturday in Westhope.

Sioux sophomore Kodie Hancock returns a short kick in the third quarter last Saturday against Mott-Regent.

Hancock (left) and defensive tackle Devin Korynta (right) pressure Wildfire quarterback McCahen Schweitzer last Saturday in Westhope. The Sioux lost 20-8.

Sioux sophomore Karlie Hancock wraps up Schweitzer last Saturday.

Kodie Hanock attempts to hang on to Wildfire receiver Chad Mosbrucker in the fourth quarter last Saturday.

Sioux junior Jake Tengesdahl returns a kick past midfield early in the fourth quarter last Saturday.

Sioux freshman quarterback Hunter Braaten runs an option play late in the fourth quarter.

Lumberjack defenseman Jordan Kippen controls the puck in the DCB zone last Friday against NDSU at the Lumberdome.

Luke Cieklinski celebrates after scoring the Lumberjacks first goal last Friday.

Wayne Ferguson (left), Ben Hilsen (middle) and Cieklinski celebrate after Cieklinski's goal in the first period.



Lumberjacks wing Jake Plutowski takes a shot a the Bison net in the second quarter Friday.



Will Kinsman battles with the Bisons Cory Arones last Friday in the Lumberdome.

Kinsman holds two Bison on the boards as he and Plutowski watch the puck bound down the ice.

Lumberjack forward Kris Wiebe wrestles in the corner for the puck to try and clear it out of the zone.

Lumberjacks center Alec Burks takes a shot at Bison goaltender Eric Monsebraken last Friday.

Scott Walters threads a pass to Seth Cory to score into a wide open net late in the second period last Friday.

Lumberjacks goaltender Wylie Riendeau gathers a puck in the third period. He had 23 saves in the win.

Lumberjack fans chant during the third period last Friday.

Bison defenseman Blair Randall and Lumberjack defenseman Sam Jelleberg show good sportsmanship after the game Friday.